


The Best Christmas Jumper in the World

by mcmirrr



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 06:16:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5446271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcmirrr/pseuds/mcmirrr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kieren works on a very special christmas present for his boyfriend Simon</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best Christmas Jumper in the World

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2015 Christmas Advent Calendar, here is a link to the post on tumblr, including the amazing art made by Hannah (bigpretzels on tumblr) http://intheflesh-art.tumblr.com/post/135335892055/advent-calendar-december-16th

The wind howled, branches scratched the windows as if in an attempt to escape the snow blizzard that had been raging outside the enitre Christmas Day. In the small living room, decorated with a large christmas tree with fairy lights and shiny silver baubles, two pale, young men were sitting on the floor on their knees, facing each other. One of them, the oldest, was unpacking a large box that was on the floor in between them.  
'I'm not sure if you like it,' said Kieren, 'I made it, but if you don't like it, that's okay.'  
Simon continued to open the ribbon Kieren had tied around the box carefully only a few days before. If Kieren still needed to breathe, this would have been a moment he'd held his breath.  
The ribbon slowly fell to the floor, Simon paused as Kieren started talking again.  
'I mean, it's probably a stupid present, I shouldn't have given it to you, Jem was right. Don't be disappointed, okay?' 

The reason Kieren was so doubtful about his hand-made gift was that he had been working on it for the whole of December. And in all that time, he had thought he'd never give it to Simon at all. 

 

**

Four weeks before Christmas, Kieren had started it after seeing his mother knit a scarf. Immediately, he went to the market and bought everything he needed. That evening he was sat on the couch surrounded by balls of yarn, needles and a laptop for instructions.  
'Grab the working yarn attached to the yarn ball and wrap it around the right needle counterclockwise, so that it sits in between the two needles,' he mumbled, 'What's counterclockwise again? Oh yeah..'  
Clumsily, he did what the instructions told him, but he let the yarn slid off the needle again, loosening all the stitches he had made so far.  
'Shit,' he mumbled.  
'Whatcha doing, Kier?' Jemima had just walked in, smiling as she took in the scene of her brother concentrating on his needles.  
'Nothing,' Kieren was still mumbling and tried the stitch again.  
A sudden realisation hit Jem and she started laughing.  
'Are you- are you knitting something? Is it for Simon?'  
Kieren dropped his hands in his lap as if surrendering to the impossibility of the knitting.  
'Yes, Jem, I am knitting a jumper for Simon. Can you help me?'  
'What, me? I don't know how to knit! Ask mum.'  
'I did, and she said that for it to be a genuine christmas present, I have to do it all by myself.'  
Jem sat down in between all the balls of yarn and picked up Kieren's laptop, reading the instructions.  
'Mum's got a point there. I can't help you, it's like math. I hate math.'  
Kieren chuckled and continued to battle the needles. 

 

Three weeks before Christmas, the jumper had started to take form. The blue, green and gold formed a festive scene involving christmas trees, baubles and tinsel. Every day he spent at least two hours in the evenings, making sure Simon never saw a thing. Now he was sitting on his bed, knitting away. He'd gotten quite the hang of it as time went on. Lost in thought, the stitches just seemed to spring into existence in his hands.  
Would Simon like the jumper? It was pretty bad. The pattern Kieren had found online looked funny at first, but now he regretted spending so much time on it. He imagined Simon wearing it and instantly burst out laughing. This was such a mistake, but he'd gotten this far and he wasn't about to give up.  
After a few more minutes of thoughtful knitting where only the sounds of needles scraping against each other broke the silence, Jem walked in the room again.  
'Still working on your little project, are you?' she asked.  
Ever since Simon and Kieren had decided to move in together at the end of the year, Jem had switched moods an awful lot. One moment she was excited for them and joking about being rid of him and the next she would walk into his bedroom all serious to make sure he knew that she never meant any of those jokes. They both knew that the last time Kieren left had been very hard on his little sister. Joking about being rid of him would naturally feel a little bitter for the both of them, even though they both knew they were just kidding. At least fifteen hugs had been shared between the two of them. This night looked like a hugging night.  
Jem sat down next to Kieren, making him slide over to make room for her. She looked at Kieren as if she had a million things to say but didn't know where to start.  
Her bright red fringe reached to her eyes as it always had, her eyes made up with black eyeliner. She was almost taller than he was. He'd been back for quite some time, almost used to being back in the world. But one thing would never feel quite right. His little sister had grown up without him. He had missed such a vital part of her life, and he was the only one to blame for it.  
As he looked back at her, he knew Jem was thinking about the same things. Just as Kieren thought he could detect tears welling up in her eyes, she blinked and made an end to their silent conversation.  
'You know I do like Simon, right?' she sad after Kieren had picked up the knitting again.  
'Yes, I know,'  
'And I know that you really like Simon too, yeah?'  
'Yes, I do. I mean, you do. What?'  
'Well, I just wanted to make sure that you know. Because I like Simon. And I want to visit lots. I mean, I'm not gonna hang around at this old place when I can visit you, am I?  
'I guess, you're always welcome. We can have sleepovers! We have an extra bedroom.'  
Jem nodded, looking at her hands in her lap.  
'Isn't it going to be weird, though,' she started again, hesitating a while before continuing, 'I mean, living where she.. Where Amy used to live?'  
Oh. An invisible fist punched Kieren in his stomach at the mention of her name. He'd tried to ignore this fact ever since Simon had moved in Amy's bungalow. As the weeks went by it had become slightly easier to ignore the sinking feeling he got whenever he saw something familiar and a random memory came to mind of Amy using it. Something as stupid as a pillow could pull something he'd forgotten long ago out of the depths of his mind. These memories were both a treasure and a burden.  
Kieren swallowed.  
'It is, but at the same time it's a good thing. It's a way of never forgetting her. She's always there, around us.'  
He went on knitting, to indicate that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

 

Two weeks before Christmas, Kieren was almost done knitting. He only had to finish the last sleeve. He hadn't had much time, though, because he had to pack all his things. Today was moving day. He was officially going to live with Simon in Amy's bungalow. A strange fluttery feeling emerged in Kieren's belly as he carefully packed the almost finished jumper in the last box. He couldn't stop smiling as he thought of doing all kinds of domestic things with Simon. He thought of hoovering the kitchen floor, of changing the sheets of their bed. Their bed. The fluttery feeling became a little stronger at the thought of lying next to Simon that night. They'd shared a bed before of course, but not like this. Not in a 'we live together and sleep together from now on' kind of way.  
A knock on the front door startled Kieren. He felt as if he'd been busted for some reason. He didn't know if it was because of what he had been thinking or the jumper in the box.  
Simon kissed Kieren excitedly as he entered the house. He had a spark in his eyes that Kieren felt sure his eyes were reflecting back. For a few seconds they were simply standing there, looking at each other. Then Kieren took Simon's hand and led him in the house. There were only a few boxes left that they had to take to the bungalow. The rest had already been brought there by Kieren's father.  
Sue, Steve and Jem were standing next to the kitchen table as Simon and Kieren tried to find a way to take the boxes all in one go. Eventually Jem offered to help. Together they walked down the street, all holding boxes. 

 

One week before Christmas, Kieren had just finished the jumper as Simon opened the door without knocking. Kieren gasped and tried to hide it behind his back, but Simon had already seen.  
'What are you holding there?'  
'Nothing.'  
Simon squinted his eyes and walked over to the bed, slowly.  
'Kier,' he said with a little smile, 'What is it?'  
Kieren shifted to hide the jumper more behind his back and then held up his hands as if surrendering.  
'It's nothing, see?' he said, grinning as well now.  
Simon climbed onto the bed and crawled on top of Kieren with his hands on either side of him.  
'Does it have anything to do with the fact that it's nearly Christmas?' he asked.  
'Maybe,' said Kieren, unable to ignore the fact that Simon's face was so close to his. He couldn't not glance at his lips every now and then.  
A few moments went by and Kieren could hardly concentrate on the conversation they were having. He had completely forgotten the jumper hiding behind him.  
'It's a surprise,' he said as he suddenly remembered why he was in such an awkward position with his hands in the air. He dropped his hands on Simon's shoulders and felt Simon closing in even further. His lips connected to Kieren's and a hot feeling shot through his whole body. Behind him the soft wool pressed in his back, but kissing Simon was much more important to him. The pressure of Simon's body was all he wanted to think about. If that jumper turned out to be a horrible mistake, this was at least one good thing he'd gotten from it.

 

**

The grandfather clock in the hall ticked as Simon lifted the lid of the box to reveal the blue, green and gold of Kieren's project. He wasn't looking in the box yet, in stead he was looking at Kieren while he lifted the jumper into the air.  
It dangled in between them, breaking their eye contact. Now Kieren was staring at the rough stitching, the holes that he should have covered up and a few loose ends at the bottom. Now he looked at it properly, the bottom seemed a little smaller than the top..  
Simon lowered the jumper slowly.  
'What do you think?' asked Kieren, now a little uncertain.  
'Did you make this?'  
'Yes.'  
'Is this what you were hiding last week?'  
'Yes.'  
Simon seemed to hesitate a little, before he asked: 'Is this a joke? Because I wear jumpers? Are you making fun of me?'  
'Well, no, not really, but maybe a little,' Kieren grinned, luckily Simon smiled as he pulled off his own jumper.  
As Kieren feared, it didn't fit. The bottom was cutting in his stomach and the top was way too big. Simon looked down for a while, scrunching up his face to be able to see, but Kieren couldn't handle it anymore. He burst out laughing at the sight of his boyfriend wearing that ridiculous jumper that Kieren had spent hours and hours on making. It was a total joke, and the joke wasn't even Simon.  
When Kieren could finally talk a bit again, he said: 'Take it off, come on, I want to try it on.'  
Simon took it off again and gave it to Kieren. He pulled it over his head and immediately started laughing again. It was so big on Kieren, he seemed to drown in it. It was hideous. 

Simon was looking at Kieren with such an intensity as if he couldn't decide if he should be insulted because Kieren was making fun of his jumpers, or if he should be flattered that Kieren had spent so much time on this, or if he should feel sorry for Kieren for failing. But Kieren looked so small in that jumper, and so relaxed and happy the way he tried to stop laughing and then started all over again, that all Simon wanted was to wrap his arms around him and hold him. He threw the box aside and shifted forward towards Kieren. Kieren finally went quiet so Simon could thank him for the jumper.  
'What? It's so bad!' said Kieren, his eyes shone with the possibility of bursting out in laughter again any moment.  
'No, I mean it, thank you. I love it. I love you for making this for me. I love you.'  
Kieren felt as if his eyes were going to fall out of his face as he stared at Simon. He bit his lip and after a moment replied.  
'I love you too.'  
'Happy Christmas,' said Simon as he leaned forward.  
'Happy-,' Kieren couldn't finish his sentence as Simon was already kissing him, sliding his hands underneath the jumper so he could hold Kieren properly. He nearly lifted him on his lap in his eagerness. 

The grandfather clock ticked and the branches scratched the windows. The rest of the presents remained untouched for the rest of the evening as Simon and Kieren were snuggled against each other on the sofa. Kieren was still wearing the jumper as he was sleeping in Simon's arms. Simon looked down into his boyfriend's face and smiled to himself. That jumper was the best present in the world, as long as his Kieren was wearing it, pressed against Simon's body.


End file.
